Alaska import Romeo Travis walks with his head down in the second half of the Aces’ Game 4 loss to the San Miguel Beermen. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.NET
The smell of beer lingered around the warm tunnel leading to the parquet floor of Smart Araneta Coliseum and Romeo Travis did not want any part of the alcohol.
Travis had no reason to celebrate. Not after his Alaska Aces got swept in a best-of-seven Finals by the San Miguel Beermen on Friday night.
“We didn’t play enough to win, we had double-digit leads but we didn’t execute down the stretch,” said Travis, who was welcomed by his wife and daughter as he emerged from the losing dugout after the Aces yielded the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup championship to the Beermen.
Travis was obviously disappointed but he refused to point fingers at anybody but himself.
“I played terrible, I didn’t do enough for us to win. I gotta do more,” Travis admitted.
More was expected of him after he was named Best Import of the Conference ahead of Game 2. But Travis couldn’t do much but watch his counterpart Arizona Reid outplay him the entire series on both ends of the floor.
Taking pride as the new comeback kids of the league, the Aces always left the impression they would bounce back even at a 3-0 deficit. But there were no dramatic rallies, just failed attempts and a celebration with the Beermen hoisting their franchise’s 21st title.
The embarrassing exit left Travis wanting to comeback in the Philippines for another tour of duty.
Travis also felt that Alaska allowed San Miguel to have its way and the Aces paid the price.
“They’re a shooting team and we let them shoot. They felt comfortable, they made shots in abundance.”